Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Rachid Djaïdani
Starring: Sabrina Hamida | Slimane Dazi | Stéphane Soo Mongo
Kyle says: “RENGAINE is called a ‘no-budget urban drama’ in the New Directors/New Films program note; this is obvious from the number of duties director Rachid Djaïdani is credited for in the end titles. So let us issue a shout-out
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Farihah Zaman | Jeff Reichert
Jason says: “REMOTE AREA MEDICAL takes great pains to separate itself from partisan politics as much as possible, but its very premise – that a service designed to bring basic medical treatment to people in areas without any sort of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Kate Hudson | Keifer Sutherland | Liev Schrieber | Martin Donovan | Riz Ahmed
Michael says: “Mira Nair is a talented filmmaker. Her latest film, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, is beautiful to watch, well structured, provocative, features terrific performances and a real slow burn. Unfortunately, the screenplay by William Wheeler, adapted from a novel by
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Calvin Reeder
Starring: Dermot Mulroney | James Cady | Lindsay Pulsipher | Natasha Lyonne | Scott Sharotis
Jason says: “Much of the time, a movie that was expanded from a short will feel bloated and kind of boring, as though the striking idea behind the original work has been watered down and made bigger without gaining more
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Emile Hirsch | Gina Grande | Joyce Payne | Lance LeGault | Lynn Shelton | Paul Rudd
Chris says: “This is the film devotees of David Gordon Green’s earlier features hoped he would make, although it’s probably not entirely what they expected. A remake of the Icelandic film EITHER WAY, PRINCE AVALANCHE returns to the Terrence Malick-on-a-tight-budget
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Rico Maria Ilarde
Starring: Andi Eigenmann | Baron Geisler | Janice de Belen | JM de Guzman | Joel Torre | Ronnie Lazaro
Kyle says: “The North American Premiere of PRIDYIDER (FRIDGE) was presented under the New York Asian Film Festival rubric of ‘Manila Chronicles: The New Filipino Cinema.’ Yes, it’s about a refrigerator that kills people. And it’s so clear-headed and good-natured
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Eric Valette
Starring: Albert Dupontel | Alice Taglioni | Natacha Régnier | Serge Hazanavicius | Sergi Lopez | Stephane Debac
Jason says: “THE PREY isn’t a big summer blockbuster by American standards; for all I know, it wasn’t a big deal when it played its native France as LA PROIE two years before its American release. It is a lean,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Deepti Kakkar | Fahad Mustafa
Bruce says: “POWERLESS examines two sides of the ‘power struggle’ in Kampur, a metropolitan area of approximately three million people. Kampur has had no increase in its power supply for twenty-two years although the population has tripled during that time.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Luke Poling | Tom Bean
Chris says: “A brief bio of George Plimpton would say that he was a journalist and co-founder of venerable literary magazine The Paris Review. Still, more so than Jean Shepherd, Truman Capote or even David Sedaris, Plimpton was most famous
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Julia Dyer
Starring: Cody Linley | John Hawkes | Jonathon McClendon | Lydia MacKay | Molly Parker
Bruce says: “THE PLAYROOM’s sin is one of omission. There is just not enough substance. One scene in particular is revisited time after time. A voiceover is also repetitious. No doubt Julia Dyer believed repetition would reinforce the moment. That
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn | Bradley Cooper | Bruce Greenwood | Eva Mendes | Ray Liotta | Rose Byrne | Ryan Gosling
Bruce says: “Some films focus on the inner selves of the characters; others focus more on the relationship of the characters to society as a whole. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, certainly one of America’s finest films of this millennium,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Starring: Heo Joon-seok | Jo Jae-ryong | Jo Min-soo | Kang Eun-jin | Lee Jeong-jin | Woo Gi-hong
Thom says: “I’m still trying to figure out what happened to the career of director Kim. After SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER…AND SPRING (2003) won numerous world awards, including an award from Chlotrudis as well & I when I finally saw
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Barbara Jefford | Judi Dench | Mare Winningham | Sophie Kennedy Clarke | Steve Coogan
Thom says: ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised at how much I loved this film but until the starting credits rolled I had completely forgotten that the great Stephen Frears was the director. Over the years he’s been responsible
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Todd Robinson
Starring: David Duchovny | Ed Harris | Johnathon Schaech | Lance Henriksen | William Fichtner
Jason says: “Many elements of PHANTOM are almost certain to remind audiences of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, and it actually draws heavily on one of the incidents that inspired Tom Clancy’s novel and the later film adaptation – or
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Kevin Schreck
Chris says: “Best known for his creative 1960s opening credit sequences (WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT?) and truly innovative work on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, Canadian-born, British-based animator Richard Williams would have preferred universal recognition for THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Anthony Geffen | Sias Wilson
Jason says: “Going by what I find on IMDB (which is not always the safest thing to do), PENGUINS 3D appears to be what you get when you cut a British nature documentary, THE PENGUIN KING 3D, down to half
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Ali Mosaffa | Bérénice Bejo | Elyes Aguis | Jeanne Jestin | Pauline Burlet | Sabrina Ouazani | Tahar Rahim
Michael says: “It may be a little too early to start saying that Iranian director Asghar Farhadi is one of my favorite filmmakers, but he’s batting two for two with A SEPARATION and now the emotionally wrenching THE PAST, actually
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Brian DePalma
Starring: Benjamin Sadler | Dominic Raacke | Karoline Herfurth | Noomi Rapace | Paul Anderson | Rachel McAdams | Rainer Bock
Thom says: “It’s been 36 years since director De Palma was in his hey-day as he captured my FILM-OF-THE-YEAR with CARRIE (1976). Since then he’s not been reliable although certainly he’s had such huge successes as SCARFACE and DRESSED TO
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ulrich Seidl
Starring: Gabriel Mwarua | Helen Brugat | Inge Maux | Margarete Teisel | Peter Kazungu
Bruce says: “Ulrich Seidl has stirred up a controversy or two with his films IMPORT/EXPORT and PARADISE: LOVE. To understand the fuss it is important to see the film, at least that is the case for PARADISE: LOVE that begins
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Marcus Markou
Starring: Cosima Shaw | Frank Dillane | Georges Corraface | Georgia Groome | Stephan Dillane | Thomas Underhill
Jason says: “I was recently reminded that my grandmother reads what I write here, which may be why one of my first reactions to PAPADOPOULOS & SONS was that it would be a good movie to bring parents or grandparents
Read the review...